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Brad Todd

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Brad Todd said voters take Donald Trump seriously but not literally

The Republican strategist said the media often gets that backward

Party People is a new podcast from CNN where a pair of conservative CNN contributors talk to influential voices about the future of conservatism and the Republican party.

(CNN)Republican strategist and founding partner of OnMessage Inc. Brad Todd said surrogates on the presidential campaign can only do so much to help their candidate -- and more often they hurt more than they help.

"Transference also in politics usually works in the negative and not the positive," Todd told CNN's "Party People" podcast hosts Kevin Madden and Mary Katharine Ham in a recent conversation. "You can hurt people more than you can help them a lot. It's the rare politician who can transfer popularity. It's just very difficult."

Their comments cited the efforts of both President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, who both had high approval at the tail end of the presidential campaign but ultimately were unable to vault Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to victory.

Todd's claim to fame from the 2016 campaign cycle perhaps comes most notably from comments he made about Donald Trump in August where Todd was the first commentator to say, "Voters take Trump seriously as a candidate, but they don't take him literally," whereas "the press takes Donald Trump literally but they don't take him seriously."